Bakersfield Rent Report: October 2026

Welcome to the Apartment List October 2026 Rent Report for Bakersfield, CA. Currently, the overall median rent in the city stands at $1,708, roughly the same as last month. Prices and are now up 6.7% year-over-year. Read on to learn more about what’s been happening in the Bakersfield rental market and how it compares to trends throughout the nation as a whole.

The median rent in Bakersfield rose by 0.4% over the course of September, and has now increased by a total of 6.7% over the past 12 months. Bakersfield’s rent growth over the past year has has outpaced both state (2.5%) and national (-0.4%) averages.

Bakersfield rents went up 0.4% in the past month, compared to the national rate of -0.1%. Among the nation's 100 largest cities, this ranks #16. Similar monthly rent growth took place in Detroit, MI (0.5%) and Virginia Beach, VA (0.4%).

Citywide, the median rent currently stands at $1,239 for a 1-bedroom apartment and $1,557 for a 2-bedroom. Across all bedroom sizes (ie, the entire rental market), the median rent is $1,708. That ranks #26 in the nation, among the country's 100 largest cities.

For comparison, the median rent across the nation as a whole is $1,220 for a 1-bedroom, $1,374 for a 2-bedroom, and $1,388 overall. The median rent in Bakersfield is 23.0% higher than the national, and is similar to the prices you would find in Hialeah, FL ($1,713) and Gilbert, AZ ($1,698).

Apartment List is committed to the accuracy and transparency of our rent estimates. We begin with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate them forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data. In doing so, we use a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, capturing apartment transactions over time to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country. Our approach corrects for the sample bias inherent in other private sources, producing results that are much closer to statistics published by the Census Bureau and HUD. For more details, please see the Apartment List Rent Estimate Methodology.

Apartment List publishes monthly rent reports and underlying data for hundreds of cities across the nation, as well as data aggregated for counties, metros, and states. These data are intended to be a source of reliable information that help renters and policymakers make sound decisions. Insights from our data are covered regularly by journalists across the country. To access the data yourself, please visit our Data Downloads Page.